Clockwatching

Do you want to get on with your colleagues and impress your boss? Then don’t get fixated by the clock when you’re at work.

Dictionary.com defines a clock watcher as “an employee who demonstrates lack of interest in a job by watching the time closely to be sure to stop work as soon as the workday or shift is over.”

Surveys have shown that clock watchers are generally unpopular, and anyone with a clock watching habit scores a black mark at all levels in the company. If most of the team are NOT rushing out of the door just seconds after the end of the working day, then this behaviour will get you noticed for all the wrong reasons.

According to recruitment experts, if you’re a clock watcher, you have two main options: either admit you need to find a more engaging job, and start making an action plan towards your goal, or dump this negative habit.

If you want to stay where you are, change your ways and boost your future career prospects. Don’t abruptly end your activities or kill conversations stone dead because you think it’s time to go.  Go the extra mile occasionally, and help work mates under pressure. Then when you need some help, you will probably find people want to help you too – and you may even get promoted!